Why do we collect clothes?

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Mark C O’Flaherty was inspired to write his new book, narrative thread, after a conversation with editor and gallerist Carla Sozzani: she has a collection of haute couture pieces by her close friend and collaborator Azzedine Alaïa. “I started thinking about why we keep clothes,” says O’Flaherty, a journalist, photographer and regular HTSI taxpayer. “Why not some and not others? How do we make that decision? How do they define us? Why do we sometimes destroy things and other times keep them wrapped in tissues?

Through a series of interviews with 14 people about their personal archives or collections, along with photo shoots of their prized garments, the book presents an intimate portrait of the many reasons we preserve certain garments. “When there are families and lovers involved, some elements were incredibly emotional,” O’Flaherty says. “I talked to people who were actively involved with certain designers and garments and there was a huge connection there.”

There is a certain degree of nostalgia: these are people whose work I fell in love with as a child.

Designer Charlie Casely-Hayford launched menswear brand Casely-Hayford with his late father, Sir Joe, in 2009. The family archive, including the deconstructed shirts made from World War II tents that helped launch the Joe’s career in the mid-’80s, is more than just his body of work. “It’s one of the few pure connections I have with my father,” he tells O’Flaherty. “I go into the archive every season and that’s how I talk to him.”

John Matheson, archivist and founder of the @McQueen_vault Instagram account, he began collecting Alexander McQueen ephemera, such as VHS tapes and show invitations, after stumbling upon the designer’s 1996 Dante collection on television. “When I saw that show it was like when you turn the channel on the news and there’s something jarring on the screen, and a new kind of reality has arrived,” she tells O’Flaherty in the book.

His own drive to collect (he now owns thousands of pieces, from McQueen’s signature jeans to a men’s double-layered blazer from the Dante collection) comes from a fascination with the work process and a curiosity for details. “You see a real person creating real things,” he says. “I have a hard time finding connections like that in the world and what’s being done these days.”

But why do we collect? Perhaps it is because we appreciate objects for their timeless beauty, as is the case with Sozzani’s collection of Manolo Blahnik shoes, treasured as works of art, or for their emotional weight. For Claire Wilcox, professor of fashion curation at the London College of Fashion, preserving her father’s wool sweaters is a way of holding on to her memory. “It’s a peace of mind for me,” she tells O’Flaherty. “He was here once, and he still is, on some level.”

“There is also an aspect of care,” says the FOOTThe men’s fashion critic. Alejandro Furiawhose collection of runway pieces ranges from Christian Lacroix and John Galliano evening dresses to Tom Ford’s 1997 Gucci thong and Vivienne Westwood’s 1991 cut-out men’s denim jacket.

“There’s a certain amount of nostalgia because these are the people whose work I fell in love with as a kid growing up in the countryside outside Manchester, with my nose pressed to the glass of fashion,” Fury adds. “But also, when you really feel the weight of something, turn it over and see how it’s constructed, they’re something extraordinary, and I think that’s becoming increasingly rare in fashion.”

Before the era of online shopping and social media, “the desire for clothing was fostered in a nuanced way,” O’Flaherty writes in her book. The rise of reselling platforms like StockX and Grail Since then, he has turned archival menswear pieces into status symbols and turned collecting into a lucrative business, with items like Raf Simons camouflage bomber from 2001 or a couple of Nike Air Yeezys attracting dazzling sums. But for collectors like Fury and Matheson, the value of having an archive goes far beyond its material value.

“To me it’s so much more than that,” says Matheson, who hopes his collection can one day benefit a future generation of students. “It represents points in my life and references. [the] The inspiration I found in certain things, and it’s the blood, sweat and tears of the designer. “I want it to be as important to other people as it was to me.”

Narrative Thread: Fashion Collection Conversations by Mark C O’Flaherty, published by Bloomsbury at £24.99